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Tv & Radio > News & Features Sunday February 11, 2007
The force of audio
AIR RAVES
By ANTHONY THANASAYAN
MORE than a million people converged at Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur 10 days ago. The venue, as we all know, is sacred to Malaysian Hindus as well as serving as a popular destination for tourists to the country.
The throngs were made up mostly of Hindus who were there to fulfil their personal vows and penance for a better life.
Others were there to imbibe the glorious sights, sounds and even smells associated with the popular annual Hindu celebration of Thaipusam, which this year fell on Feb 1.
The event was observed as a public holiday in five states, namely Selangor, Johor, Negri Sembilan, Perak and Penang.
For those who couldn’t be present at the historical Caves and personally catch some of the action, tuning in to radio turned out to be an exercise in futility.
I listened in for more than an hour beginning from 5.30am on Thaipusam Day.
I was generally disappointed with what Radio Televisyen Malaysia’s Minnal fm and private radio station Thr.fm’s Raaga dished out – or rather in this case, didn’t dish out – to Tamil-speaking listeners.
There were no live crossovers from Batu Caves or interviews with the people there during the time that I was tuned in.
Instead, there was only some religious song airplay minus any noteworthy details about the music played by a male deejay who seemed to have trouble handling the volume controls in the studio.
Every time he started talking, I had to up my volume in order to hear him. Then when he started to play his records, I had to dash over to my radio set to lower the controls to avoid waking up my neighbours!
As for Thr.fm’s Tamil network, Raaga (under Airtime Management and Programming), it only emerged on my radio dial at 6am.
Before that, it was Gegar (Thr.fm’s Malay network) that was on the air. So naturally the station was only playing Malay songs for listeners.
Since it was a day of great significance to Hindus, I wondered why the Raaga producers hadn’t thought of extending its Tamil transmission just for that morning.
The early-bird hours of Thaipusam were certainly a worthy time to do that as many devotees were at that moment in the thick of preparing themselves for their ritual.
I certainly hope that our radio stations, especially those that run formatted programmes, will seriously consider exercising flexibility in programming in exceptional situations such as on days of special celebrations.
“Spontaneity” like this from radio stations is what I think keeps the listener interest going. There is no better radio station, in my opinion, than a broadcaster that is prepared to give listeners what they want, when they want it.
I am reminded of another event last month which was covered by All India Radio (AIR) which illustrates my point. The day was Jan 15; the event: the Hindu festival of Ponggal.
AIR took time-out from its usual programming to give listeners details of the elaborate arrangements that were taking place on the second day of the auspicious festival of Makar Sankranti in India.
The Indian broadcaster from New Delhi captured the colours of a royal bathing procession of ash-smeared saints that was a major highlight of the occasion.
Listening to such reports gave me the feeling that I was actually there watching the event unfold though I was of course thousands of kilometres away.
I could still appreciate and enjoy its breathtaking moments – thanks to the audio report.
I think our radio stations should start featuring crossover reports of such nature in the immediate future to make our listening just as interesting.
Despite living in the cyber age, Anthony Thanasayan insists that radio still provides a unique window on the world. When he isn’t scanning bandwidths, he trains service dogs for disabled people through his organisation, Petpositive (Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association).
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